otjiwarongo consulting

Céline Guérin, director of otjiwarongo consulting

The company works with clients, partners and suppliers that have a philosophy of change. Like us, they believe Earth’s finite resources should be protected. They do not want every difference of opinion resolved through sanctions. They resent disparity. They fund alternative energy research instead of oil exploration. Their inventions aim to heal people, not kill them. They prefer durable goods. They have solutions.

Since 1977, our partners have provided stakeholders with a comprehensive range of services, most notably:

• public awareness, advocacy, behaviour change, fundraising and internal communications campaign strategies
• increased visibility, through our visibility services which help secure news coverage, public service announcement placement, web traffic and more
• a full range of communications and perception analyses
• shifting strategies for those wishing to move their institution or company closer to sustainable development criteria

All of our customers are important to us but among those you may recognise are the World Health Organisation, the World AIDS Campaign, the Global Fund, the World YWCA, the International Union Against Cancer, the International Organisation for Migration, the Clinton Foundation, UN-Habitat, Union Network International. We also partner with corporations, such as BMW on social responsibility projects.

To give you a more personal perspective of the company, here are excerpts from a recent interview with our otjiwarongo consulting director and senior analyst, Céline Guérin.

What defines ‘quality of service’ at otjiwarongo consulting?

Céline : Our clients come to us for advice, often during a crisis or at a time where our input is critical. This means they want us to be available, focussed and engaged. In essence, in addition to our know how, they want our commitment and we understand this. When consultants, trainers, writers and editors join our team, they are told how important this is.

How broad is otjiwarongo’s range of services?

Céline : In one respect you could say we are extremely broad, in another that we are focussed. I’ll start with the latter. We are focussed in that we only work for the public interest sector. We are broad in that we provide a diverse set of analyses, strategies and services ranging from the most basic perception analysis — e.g. institutional image analysis — to highly complex institutional strategies for UN agencies.

I would like to add one more thing about our range of services. Admittedly, to many prospects and even clients, some of our offerings are rather novel or even cryptic. They will often wonder about the use of an analysis of common spaces. And yet, we do get requests for many of these services. I guess what I’m saying is that we understand the complexity and originality of our offer so we take the time to explain it well.

You say you are familiar with the public interest causes, messages and even administration. How relevant is this knowledge to your work?

Céline : We have seen too many consultants waste too much time discovering the United Nations, civil society and other public interest institutions. They spend as much time learning the terminology, the caveats, the parameters and all other aspects of work in an institutional setting. We have been working in the institutional field since 1977. Our own institutional memory is strong and immediately and constantly shared with our staff. In fact, many of our consultants hail from the public interest sector themselves.

How credible is otjiwarongo consulting? Do you have the references one would expect from a public interest consulting firm?

Céline : We are genuinely proud, and feel privileged, to have worked for the many organisations who have entrusted us with a part of their future. I don’t think I’m going to list the whole list (it is available on this website) but I will say that among them are organisations for whom a greater understanding of their actions can make the difference to millions of lives. Take our work for UN-Habitat and the World Urban Campaign. What if our work could in some small way contribute to the lives of the 1.6 billion people who live without water and sanitation? Could our strategic recommendations for P4H have an impact on health systems worldwide? We hope so.

Is otjiwarongo consulting affordable or is it priced beyond UN or civil society means?

Céline : As I mentioned previously, otjiwarongo consulting and other mondofragilis group companies, are familiar with the UN system, civil society and government contracts. We know what they consider acceptable payment for intellectual services and over the years have managed to position ourselves within those parameters. So the short answer is, yes we are affordable without sacrificing the level of service.

Creative solutions are great but they must remain credible. How does otjiwarongo consulting do it?

Céline : Over the years, this has been our greatest challenge. On the one hand you have great ideas, novel ones, ideas born from passion and vision. On the other hand you have institutional mechanisms that resist rapid or broad change. Our secret has been to always provide both. We know the limits and always provide a set of solutions that fit within those limits. But we also provide ideas that are free from restraint. Surprisingly, many of our original ideas have had a life within the system. In the early 90‘s, when most organisations had never heard of the web, our recommendations led to IOM becoming one of the very first multilateral bodies to invest heavily in a web complex.

How do you react when a client is not happy about a report?

Céline : Good consulting relies on honesty. Our job is to be frank with our clients. Our job is definitely not to write a report based on what they want to hear. We have been asked to do so often, and we always refuse. Sure, we will make amendments to a report that fill gaps that we may have missed or that remove misinformed statements but we will not change a recommendation into a client transcript. This, of course, only applies to our analysis and strategy recommendations. When it comes to writing or editing, the client is in charge. Our job is to write exactly what a client wants, in the style they want.

otjiwarongo is a fascinating name, what is the history?

Céline : There are two stories here. First I’d like to mention that otjiwarongo consulting is the new name of mondofragilis network. We decided to change the name because of the confusion between mondofragilis group (our holding company) and mondofragilis network. Additionally, mondofragilis network had begun as a multi-service communications firm which included television production. Now, all television production work has been handed over to our sister company messaggio studios and so the irrelevance of the word network.

Why did we pick otjiwarongo? First of all let me mention that we realise that it is not the easiest word to spell. We looked at many others that were far simpler. But otjiwarongo means something to us, especially to our group president Giray and to our group creative director Franck. Both of them, a few years back, travelled to southern Africa to film a documentary. Their trip included a visit of the city of Otjiwarongo in Namibia. Both of them were touched by the city, both for its despair from the ravages of the AIDS pandemic and for the resilience of its population. This was a population that was fighting back. It was truly inspiring and so we now humbly and proudly take on the name as our own namesake hoping to do it justice.

Let’s get to the core of otjiwarongo. What is your added value?

Céline : As you can see on this website and in our marketing materials, we offer a broad range of analyses, strategic services and content production. We also provide media services, fundraising assistance and more. All these would be less valuable were it not for our underlying proprietary methodologies. Indeed, I have been fortunate to have been trained in communications analysis by a unique professor in the seventies. His theories were avant garde and led me to work on what has now become known as Communications and Perception Analysis. This body of work which spans thirty years of research is our working tool. Its algorithms and theorems apply to analysis, strategy and, indeed, most of our consulting services. Add to that a body of institutional memory spanning over thirty years and you get our added value.

Do you always work alone?

Céline : Absolutely not, otjiwarongo works with many partners, freelancers and even competitors. We build a contract offer around the best talent. If we have it in-house, that’s what we use. If we don’t, we bring it on board. One should note that our clients hire us as much for our human talent as for our methods matrix. They know that an otjiwarongo contract (as I said, formerly mondofragilis network) means solid input and output.

Does otjiwarongo practice what it preaches?

All mondofragilis group companies are proud supporters and members of The UN Global Compact. We encourage all to do so.

Céline : We are absolutely committed to all the principles we recommend to others. As with our mondofragilis group sister companies, we are proud members of the United Nations Global Compact, our facility has undergone major pro-environment modifications, we avoid travel as much as possible in favour of teleconferencing and our human resource policy is as fair as you could imagine. Many are also surprised to see that we are very gender-balanced, in fact we have more women than men including in senior positions. We adhere to GIPA and are aggressively non-discriminatory in our hiring practices.

Beyond the environment and your HR practices, do you do anything else to promote human rights?

Céline : Let me be clear, we are not as good as I would like us to be. It’s not easy to be grand in difficult times. But it is incumbent upon us to do our best no matter what our resources. To this end, I am very committed to highly respectful and rightful practices. This is true whether working for our clients, managing staff or buying from our suppliers. You will always find our staff respectful and mindful.

How does a small consulting outfit offer services worldwide?

Céline : We have intentionally chosen a path of quality counsel. Indeed, not long ago a large consulting firm wanted to buy us out and integrate our methodologies into their own. We resisted because we felt we could not offer the degree of personalised service that we offer today. And yet, despite our size, we manage to offer services in over 50 countries. In the past ten years alone, our contracts have taken us throughout Europe and North America, to over 15 African nations, to Singapore, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil and Peru.

Is it easy to work with otjiwarongo?

Céline : Being a mondofragilis group company has its advantages. We have access to the mondofragilis administration and management application (MAMA). This greatly facilitates our project management ensuring fluid project management.

Any closing words?

Céline : Giving advice is never easy. You feel committed to your ideas but you’re never sure if they will be 100% useful. You’re uncomfortable with negative feedback. You’re also struck by the responsibility given to you; much can depend on your recommendations. And yet, if you believe in your competence you forge ahead and share. That’s where I stand today. Confident that we have competence in our field but very mindful that every recommendation must be the result of consistent and considerable research, insight and humility.